mamisgarden:

hyggehaven:

Propagating cuttings in a plastic container: plug and forget method

By ladylotus Z3/4 ND on Sat, Oct 15, 11 at 10:47, GardenWeb Forums

I have 20 acres with approx. 3 acres of gardens. In order to fill up all my gardens I had to take a lot of cuttings. I have an easy fail proof way of taking cuttings.

1. Buy a plastic tote with a lid. Preferably as clear plastic as you can get.

2. Then I fill about 2 to 3 inches of soilless medium. (ie. 1 part peat moss and 1 part perlite).

3. I then make the medium damp, not soggy, but it does have to be damp through and through (peat takes a bit of time to absorb water…remember that). For the size container I have in the below photo, I use one full ice cream bucket of rain water or pond water, and that seems to be the perfect amount.

4. Dip your cuttings into the growth hormone, place them in the medium. I usually make my hole first with a pencil and then tamp the soil around the cutting a bit.

5. Place the lid on and forget them for several months. I do my cuttings in Oct or Nov and don’t remove the cuttings until May or June. I will peek in the container on occasion to ensure there is enough moisture in the mix.

aaah! yeah this method right here seems worth testing, it reminds of the method i used with the difference that mine weren´t covered.

i am a bit worried that the keept in moisture will do damage, if it freezes down. I would probably make a few drainage/moisturizing holes. Or maybe this is not meant for propagation in cold weather